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Wounded Panthers stage triumph over adversity

Glenn Jackson

Anthony Minichiello of the Roosters is tackled by the Panthers defence. Photo: Getty Images

The last time Penrith won, coach Ivan Cleary had just taken the captaincy off their star player Luke Lewis. So, in the week of Lewis's signing with Cronulla, three months later, the Panthers have won again.

The irony, of course, is that a team that needs a shake-up has performed best, at least in recent months, at the height of adversity.

It is clear Penrith responded to it in the short-term. Knowing that they can't rely on Lewis to be involved in some sort of drama for every week of the competition, Cleary needs to find a way to make his side more consistent and less reliant on external motivations.

Their first win since May, really, showed that they should have won more. They played well, did so without the injured Lewis; even though they were up against a team facing its own demons, the Panthers were composed on the field despite so much turbulence off it. The reporting and subsequent send-off of Travis Burns will ensure the build-up to their next clash, against Cronulla, is also tumultuous.

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''It's been a while,'' Cleary said. ''It's just good for the boys. They've been working hard for a long time, and it's good to see them get some reward, finally.''

The Panthers are a better side than the one that has lost five matches in a row twice this season - the second stretch ended yesterday, in a comfortable win over the Roosters.

''It's been pretty hard,'' Cleary said. ''I think we've done it twice now, five losses in a row. Throw a bye in there, and it's a long time to go without one. It felt like one was coming.''

So did Kevin Kingston, who has taken over from Lewis as club captain. ''I'm just really proud of the boys,'' he said. ''It was a real gutsy effort. It wasn't too pretty at times, but I thought we did really well. It's been coming for a couple of weeks. All week, I just thought we prepared really well.

''We've had a bit of stuff going on in the last couple of weeks, and the boys have just bounced back really well from it.''

The Roosters are having less success at bouncing back from adversity. Last Monday night they lost a seemingly unloseable game against South Sydney. It was followed by speculation that halfback Mitchell Pearce is unhappy at the club.

The Roosters are certainly playing like a team that is not entirely happy. The side needed to win to have any chance of making an unlikely tilt at the top eight. But against a side that has been struggling itself for much of this season, and was missing its own best player, the Roosters - who had won one from eight leading in - only showed glimpses of fight.

While both their props, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Martin Kennedy, were enjoying a hostile battle with their Penrith counterparts Tim Grant (especially) and Sam McKendry, few other Roosters followed their lead. Penrith scored first when halfback Luke Walsh grubbered for centre Brad Tighe, and while their opponents hit back through centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall, by the time Matt Robinson scored on half-time to give the Panthers the lead, the wheels were starting to fall off the Roosters' game.

The second half was largely one-way traffic, aside from the Roosters' late efforts after Burns was given his marching orders. The Roosters never lost complete control, remaining in the contest through first their young forward Boyd Cordner and then their veteran fullback Anthony Minichiello, but they never looked like they were really in it either.